Business Networks

Course Number:

Faculty

Program

MBA

Concentrations

Business Technologies, Quantitative Analysis

Course Description

This is a course on how social, economic and information agents involved in a business are connected, and how
the study of these networks sheds light on these connections. Topics will include closure, ties and balance in organizational networks, auctions and their extensions to matching markets, and the network principles behind
web search and advertising in the www. The course will also touch upon models of how opinions, fads, and
innovations spread through society, as well as models of network formation such as the small worlds and the
rich-get-richer phenomena. Applications of the class topics arise in Information Systems, Marketing and
Strategic quantitative analysis of network structures.

The course has no formal prerequisites other than the Tepper Core classes on Probability and Optimization, and is suitable for both first- and second-year students. The work will consist of six individual assignments, one final paper that can be completed in a team, and a blog post in the class discussion board.